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Honorverse: Crown of Slaves #3
Cauldron of Ghosts
Sequel to national bestsellers Crown of Slaves and Torch of Freedom, Cauldron of Ghosts is the return of Secret agent Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat in the Wages of Sin, the classic tie-in series set in David Weber's Honorverse.
TOIL AND TROUBLE IN THE CAULDRON OF GHOSTS
The Mesan Alignment is a centuries-old cabal that seeks to impose its vision of a society dominated by genetic rank onto the human race. Now the conspiracy stands exposed by spies Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat — one an agent of Honor Harrington’s Star Kingdom of Manticore, the other a Havenite operative.
The outing of the Alignment has turned the galaxy’s political framework topsy-turvy. Old coalitions have disintegrated. New alliances have been born.
For starters, the long and hard-fought war between the Republic of Haven and the Star Empire of Manticore is not only over, but these bitter enemies have formed a new pact. Their common foe: the Mesan Alignment itself.
But more information is needed to bring the Alignment out of the shadows. Now, defying the odds and relying on genetic wizardry themselves for a disguise, Zilwicki and Cachat return to Mesa — only to discover that even they have underestimated the Alignment’s ruthlessness and savagery.
Soon they are on the run in Mesa’s underworld, not only hunted by the Alignment, but threatened by the exploding conflict on the planet between Mesa’s overlords and the brutalized slaves and descendants of slaves who have suffered under their rule for so long. But if Zilwicki and Cachat succeed in rooting out the ancient conspiracy, a great evil may be finally removed from the galaxy — and on a long-oppressed planet, freedom may finally dawn.
About the Wages of Sin series:
"Fans of Weber's Honor Harrington series … will be delighted with this offshoot in which he and coauthor Flint develop several situations and characters from other stories. ...This outstanding effort transcends the label 'space opera' and truly is a novel of ideas.” –Publishers Weekly
TOIL AND TROUBLE IN THE CAULDRON OF GHOSTS
The Mesan Alignment is a centuries-old cabal that seeks to impose its vision of a society dominated by genetic rank onto the human race. Now the conspiracy stands exposed by spies Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat — one an agent of Honor Harrington’s Star Kingdom of Manticore, the other a Havenite operative.
The outing of the Alignment has turned the galaxy’s political framework topsy-turvy. Old coalitions have disintegrated. New alliances have been born.
For starters, the long and hard-fought war between the Republic of Haven and the Star Empire of Manticore is not only over, but these bitter enemies have formed a new pact. Their common foe: the Mesan Alignment itself.
But more information is needed to bring the Alignment out of the shadows. Now, defying the odds and relying on genetic wizardry themselves for a disguise, Zilwicki and Cachat return to Mesa — only to discover that even they have underestimated the Alignment’s ruthlessness and savagery.
Soon they are on the run in Mesa’s underworld, not only hunted by the Alignment, but threatened by the exploding conflict on the planet between Mesa’s overlords and the brutalized slaves and descendants of slaves who have suffered under their rule for so long. But if Zilwicki and Cachat succeed in rooting out the ancient conspiracy, a great evil may be finally removed from the galaxy — and on a long-oppressed planet, freedom may finally dawn.
About the Wages of Sin series:
"Fans of Weber's Honor Harrington series … will be delighted with this offshoot in which he and coauthor Flint develop several situations and characters from other stories. ...This outstanding effort transcends the label 'space opera' and truly is a novel of ideas.” –Publishers Weekly
581 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2014
134 people are currently reading
922 people want to read
About the author
David Weber
322 books4,549 followersDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
January 24, 2014
This the best (and most likely last as by the end the story is wrapped in the mainline) of the 3 Wages of Sin novels and the most complete Honorverse novel since At All Costs as it closes the Mesa storyline and we finally can move to the breakup of the league, The Renaissance Factor and all the goodies promised. The ending coincides more or less with the ending of Shadow of Freedom as the timeline goes (plus travel time of course, but nothing else moves ahead)
Houdini, new characters, most notably the replacement of Isabel Bardassano and the brother of jack McBride on the alignment side, Torch commandos, Mesans and freed slaves on the good guys side and much more; lots of happenings, lots of twists and as mentioned a great ending that obviously leaves one wanting the next chapter asap
As characters, Victor Cachat and Thandi Palane are clearly the lead ones here, though there are quite a few more with speaking parts and we meet a ton of familiar characters in cameos.
The first 1/2 is lighter in tone and the last half is frantic and brutal on occasion (as we get to see first hand Houdini of course), but there are a lot of quotable lines and laugh out moments:
"He smiled. “But now I do mayhem in a uniform. Makes all the difference in the world. When I killed people retail, I was a terrorist. Now that I kill ‘em wholesale, I’m a stalwart soldier. Get medals for it and everything.”
.........................
“The point is, now that I’m an of-fi-cial soldier, I can get a medal. As a Ballroom guy, the only thing I qualified for was a wanted poster.”
“They haven’t made wanted posters in over a millennia.”
“Fine. Wanted e-poster. I did get one of those."
One more quote:
"Leonard Detweiler’s great-great-great-grand-daughter Cecilia had once depicted the problem thusly: We will bring down the great bison with a pack of wolves. The tricky part is that we don’t control the wolves."
In addition there is a lot of universe back-story - the final war, the Detweiler secession, plus in-story moments like the video showing what happened on Earth many years ago when Victor Cachat first appeared and saved Helen, Berry and Lars, uncle Jacques etc...
Houdini, new characters, most notably the replacement of Isabel Bardassano and the brother of jack McBride on the alignment side, Torch commandos, Mesans and freed slaves on the good guys side and much more; lots of happenings, lots of twists and as mentioned a great ending that obviously leaves one wanting the next chapter asap
As characters, Victor Cachat and Thandi Palane are clearly the lead ones here, though there are quite a few more with speaking parts and we meet a ton of familiar characters in cameos.
The first 1/2 is lighter in tone and the last half is frantic and brutal on occasion (as we get to see first hand Houdini of course), but there are a lot of quotable lines and laugh out moments:
"He smiled. “But now I do mayhem in a uniform. Makes all the difference in the world. When I killed people retail, I was a terrorist. Now that I kill ‘em wholesale, I’m a stalwart soldier. Get medals for it and everything.”
.........................
“The point is, now that I’m an of-fi-cial soldier, I can get a medal. As a Ballroom guy, the only thing I qualified for was a wanted poster.”
“They haven’t made wanted posters in over a millennia.”
“Fine. Wanted e-poster. I did get one of those."
One more quote:
"Leonard Detweiler’s great-great-great-grand-daughter Cecilia had once depicted the problem thusly: We will bring down the great bison with a pack of wolves. The tricky part is that we don’t control the wolves."
In addition there is a lot of universe back-story - the final war, the Detweiler secession, plus in-story moments like the video showing what happened on Earth many years ago when Victor Cachat first appeared and saved Helen, Berry and Lars, uncle Jacques etc...
November 26, 2014
I got an e-arc I got an e-arc thank you baen and thank you webscriptions you rock my socks because I get the books early and I must FEED MY ADDICTION (I love you) - 1/22/2014
(Okay quick break to re-read some Torch of Freedom)
1/23/2014
Okay, IT WAS INCREDIBLY AWESOME and then I got to the end and it was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO why must you end now... why?!?! (although the book was freaking long!! took me 7-8 hours to read)
I like Eric Flint, when Weber writes alone I don't get the lol's like I do when he co-writes with Flint... and there were lol's!!!
I love Berry and Hugh and Granny and Victor and Anton and Thandi and some of the all! new! characters!
(Okay quick break to re-read some Shadow of Freedom)
Okay, where's the next freaking book???? Ahhhhhhhhhh the agonies of a series that's not done yet... *gnashes teeth, pulls hair*
well fan*freaking*tastic I am so punchdrunk from no sleep and a CUT OFF ENDING. (also gimme the next book)
I will be of absolutely no use whatsoever at work today.
That is all.
(Okay quick break to re-read some Torch of Freedom)
1/23/2014
Okay, IT WAS INCREDIBLY AWESOME and then I got to the end and it was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO why must you end now... why?!?! (although the book was freaking long!! took me 7-8 hours to read)
I like Eric Flint, when Weber writes alone I don't get the lol's like I do when he co-writes with Flint... and there were lol's!!!
I love Berry and Hugh and Granny and Victor and Anton and Thandi and some of the all! new! characters!
(Okay quick break to re-read some Shadow of Freedom)
Okay, where's the next freaking book???? Ahhhhhhhhhh the agonies of a series that's not done yet... *gnashes teeth, pulls hair*
well fan*freaking*tastic I am so punchdrunk from no sleep and a CUT OFF ENDING. (also gimme the next book)
I will be of absolutely no use whatsoever at work today.
That is all.
January 29, 2014
An excellent continuation of the *massive* Honor Harrington series. It brings together some big threads from previous books, and adds in quite a few more. I think Eric Flint has done a world of good for the characterization in the series, particularly when it comes to the villains. David Weber is damn good at space battles, but one of his weak spots has always been characterizing negative characters. Not necessarily the military characters, as there've been some Havenites I liked better than certain Manties. But a lot of his villains tend to be so villainous, you expect a scene where they twirl their mustaches. I feel that the Mesan characters are drawn in more human strokes. I mean, granted, they're basically Nazis IN SPAAAAAACE, but they have families, and they fret about human things, and they have human emotions. Even the worst of them might be decent types if they weren't, you know, interstellar Nazis. Anyway, to sum up:
March 30, 2014
I enjoyed the book, and was inclined to give five stars. I did not, because I don't enjoy the long digressions in mid-scene. Sometimes it's great to put a couple of thousand words in out of the blue, to describe the history of plumbing on a planet (I made that up, but there might be one in this book. I paged through them when I realized that the story was paused for some explication). Sometimes I'd rather know what happens next. The last couple of Weber books I read, the ratio of paintings to movies seems higher. Don't misunderstand. I wouldn't miss a book and I'd go to his house and read the drafts if he'd let me. Just because I don't love every word doesn't mean that I'm not really invested in the Honorverse.
And in this book, I get plenty of Thandi Palane, Anton Zilwicki, and Victor Cachet. I wouldn't mind if a book like this came out every week. I could read three days, and then catch up on the real world stuff that I put off for reading, and then start the cycle again.
I've read in other reviews that the Mesan Alignment story is finished. I didn't see that. I saw that they moved elsewhere. Something tells me that a hint was dropped in one of the early Torch books about where they went. A wormhole survey crew tried a new wormhole, and popped out to be the guest of honor at a missile party. I figured that was the bolthole where they have gone, and they are still out there.
But what I don't get is this genetic superiority thing. In 600 years of making alphas, the Detwilers are still the top of the line? No progress beyond version 1? I mean, the Detwiler kils having ABC-names implies that they are clones of the old man, but what's missing is whatever makes them superior. Do they have super powers? xray vision? can one of them use his mind to put a whole planet to sleep?
And if they are so advanced, why do they choose to hide, instead of defend themselves in a regular home? And if they're gonna hide, why not hide in plain sight like they have for the last 600 years?
The Magellan still has the unaltered passenger list, under some lake. Is there a chance that the real passenger manifest is going to be found?
The destruction that we saw in this book was mostly provided in public places. It wasn't like the big underground server farm that we saw destroyed along with Green Pines. If the good guys go loose in Mendel, is there forensic evidence of the alignment that might be found?
Should we assume that Mesan diplomats all over the galaxy have either been recalled, or left out there?
How well can the Alignment be reconstructed out of the citizens that weren't Houdini'd? Some of them have to know SOMEthing, right?
Someplace manufactured the spider drives, etc. The missiles. Is Mike Henke's fleet investing those factories now?
So many questions, so few years left in a normal lifespan ...
And in this book, I get plenty of Thandi Palane, Anton Zilwicki, and Victor Cachet. I wouldn't mind if a book like this came out every week. I could read three days, and then catch up on the real world stuff that I put off for reading, and then start the cycle again.
I've read in other reviews that the Mesan Alignment story is finished. I didn't see that. I saw that they moved elsewhere. Something tells me that a hint was dropped in one of the early Torch books about where they went. A wormhole survey crew tried a new wormhole, and popped out to be the guest of honor at a missile party. I figured that was the bolthole where they have gone, and they are still out there.
But what I don't get is this genetic superiority thing. In 600 years of making alphas, the Detwilers are still the top of the line? No progress beyond version 1? I mean, the Detwiler kils having ABC-names implies that they are clones of the old man, but what's missing is whatever makes them superior. Do they have super powers? xray vision? can one of them use his mind to put a whole planet to sleep?
And if they are so advanced, why do they choose to hide, instead of defend themselves in a regular home? And if they're gonna hide, why not hide in plain sight like they have for the last 600 years?
The Magellan still has the unaltered passenger list, under some lake. Is there a chance that the real passenger manifest is going to be found?
The destruction that we saw in this book was mostly provided in public places. It wasn't like the big underground server farm that we saw destroyed along with Green Pines. If the good guys go loose in Mendel, is there forensic evidence of the alignment that might be found?
Should we assume that Mesan diplomats all over the galaxy have either been recalled, or left out there?
How well can the Alignment be reconstructed out of the citizens that weren't Houdini'd? Some of them have to know SOMEthing, right?
Someplace manufactured the spider drives, etc. The missiles. Is Mike Henke's fleet investing those factories now?
So many questions, so few years left in a normal lifespan ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2019
I really enjoy this series. When Weber and Eric Flint get together, they are better than the sum of their parts. Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki are best appreciated as a superspy buddy comedy, something like Lethal Weapon with spies in space.
This book is no exception, and here, facing off against the shadowy Mesan Alignment, is where the real action of the later Honorverse books is taking place. This book finds our heroes on the ground when the Alignment activates Houdini, their plan to disappear, and they learn just how bad these bad guys really are.
I like that Weber and Flint try to humanize these bad guys, though. The Space Nazis have families, and they really believe they're doing the "right thing." They are the heroes of their own story, and it's a good object lesson. Fascists look just like everybody else. They go to church and the PTA. They can be really nice to the people they consider to be full humans; they just disregard the humanity of anybody that doesn't fit their definition of that, whether it's about melanin content, like on our world, or whether it's about the "right" combination of designer genes, like in this book.
It's an excellent illustration of Nazi double-think. Detweiler and the rest of the Alignment really believe themselves to be superior humans, because they have chosen the combination of genetic modifications that they've imposed on the very genetic slaves they've abused over the centuries. In other words, there's no real difference between the "masters" and the "slaves"; a truth every Nazi fears in their heart of hearts.
I have one complaint, and that is that Weber and Flint spend more time telling us that Cachat and Zilwicki are superspies than they do showing us. They can be forgiven, though, because they showed us enough of that in the last two books and related stories. The real hero of this novel is Thandi Palane, and she is amazing!
Also, it was nice to get a better feel for how the Beowulfian Biological Survey Corps (not a survey corps; more like Special Forces Marines) actually work.
An excellent addition to one of my favourite series.
I’ve started my True Chronological Reading of the Last 10 Honorverse Books, as I said I would in the last couple of Honorverse reviews I did. You can check it out at the link above!
This book is no exception, and here, facing off against the shadowy Mesan Alignment, is where the real action of the later Honorverse books is taking place. This book finds our heroes on the ground when the Alignment activates Houdini, their plan to disappear, and they learn just how bad these bad guys really are.
I like that Weber and Flint try to humanize these bad guys, though. The Space Nazis have families, and they really believe they're doing the "right thing." They are the heroes of their own story, and it's a good object lesson. Fascists look just like everybody else. They go to church and the PTA. They can be really nice to the people they consider to be full humans; they just disregard the humanity of anybody that doesn't fit their definition of that, whether it's about melanin content, like on our world, or whether it's about the "right" combination of designer genes, like in this book.
It's an excellent illustration of Nazi double-think. Detweiler and the rest of the Alignment really believe themselves to be superior humans, because they have chosen the combination of genetic modifications that they've imposed on the very genetic slaves they've abused over the centuries. In other words, there's no real difference between the "masters" and the "slaves"; a truth every Nazi fears in their heart of hearts.
I have one complaint, and that is that Weber and Flint spend more time telling us that Cachat and Zilwicki are superspies than they do showing us. They can be forgiven, though, because they showed us enough of that in the last two books and related stories. The real hero of this novel is Thandi Palane, and she is amazing!
Also, it was nice to get a better feel for how the Beowulfian Biological Survey Corps (not a survey corps; more like Special Forces Marines) actually work.
An excellent addition to one of my favourite series.
I’ve started my True Chronological Reading of the Last 10 Honorverse Books, as I said I would in the last couple of Honorverse reviews I did. You can check it out at the link above!
April 4, 2014
Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki are on the loose on Mesa again. This time, they've brought a military advisor and plans to make contacts among the underground of "seccies", the descendants of slaves who make up the underclass of Mesan society. As the repercussions of their previous visit to Mesa continue, will they be able to control the rebellion they plan to start?
Best of this side series, thus far. Only one cut-and-paste chapter from a previous book, and far more action than the main-line Honorverse has offered for a while. Starts pretty much where _Torch of Freedom_ ended, and runs concurrent with the events of _A Rising Thunder_ and _Shadow of Freedom_. And if you recall the end of Shadow of Freedom... Suffice it to say that becomes very important.
Loved it. Sorry I finished it so fast.
Best of this side series, thus far. Only one cut-and-paste chapter from a previous book, and far more action than the main-line Honorverse has offered for a while. Starts pretty much where _Torch of Freedom_ ended, and runs concurrent with the events of _A Rising Thunder_ and _Shadow of Freedom_. And if you recall the end of Shadow of Freedom... Suffice it to say that becomes very important.
Loved it. Sorry I finished it so fast.
January 25, 2015
Review to come! :D
May 7, 2014
This is the third book in the “Crown of Slaves Series” set in the “Honoverse”, the world of Honor Harrington. Victor Cachet, spy from the Republic of Haven and Anton Zilwicki spy from the Empire of Manticore are the two main characters in the “Crown of Slaves series” In prior books they began working together in Torch a planet of ex-slaves who elected Berry Zilwicki , Anton’s youngest daughter their Queen. They had discovered that Mesa, who create genetic slaves, plot to set Haven and Manticore to war with each other. If you have not read the main series it is best to start at the beginning with “On Basilisk Station” and proceed through the series and sub series, the books do not do well as standalone books. Cachet and Zilwicki decide they need to go back to Mesa and try to find out more about what is happening with the newly discovered Mesan Alignment and how it ties into events and situation that have been happening. They adopt new personas and new skin (literally) through the wonders of modern Beowulf genetics and medical engineering. Accompanied by General Thandi Plane (Chief of Staff of Torch military) and Yana Tretiakovna (super solider) also of Torch. Weber has been known for producing very large volume books and this is no exemption. Weber goes into long explanation of the technology and society which I find helpful in obtaining a complete understanding of the world he creates. This book has less of the explanations instead it focused on moving the story along. Our spies find that the Mesa Alignment has been moving their personnel off Mesa and creating large scale attack resulting massive amounts of deaths to cover all their missing people. Of course, the Mesa Alignment blames the “ballroom” (group of ex-slaves) for the terrorist attacks. Victor and Anton help out the main crime boss of the slums in resisting the reprisals by the police and Mesa military. Honor Harrington plays only a background role. I sure hope Weber does another book staring Honor. When it looks like the end for our heroes a large Manticore Naval Fleet suddenly appears. We knew from the last book that the fleet was on the way commanded by Honor’s friend Admiral Goldpeak also known as Michele Henke niece of Queen Elizabeth of Manticore. Weber has set us up again anxiously waiting for the next book. I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. Peter Larkin does a good job narrating the book
October 16, 2015
David Weber began his Honor Harrington series in 1992 with On Basilisk Station, and in it our intrepid heroine commanded a ship of the Star Kingdom of Manticore against the far larger People's Republic of Haven. Manticore remained Haven's superior on the fields of battle because of its robust interstellar trade and Haven's corruption. And in case Weber hadn't made it clear he was writing a Horatio Hornblower England v. Revolutionary France-in-space novel, the leader of Haven was Rob S. Pierre.
But the two nations have found a common enemy after many years of fighting, and are now allied against the Mesan Alignment. This cloak-and-dagger corporation has as its goal the establishment of a genetic caste system throughout as much of the galaxy as possible -- with its own directors as tyrant oligarchs. Master spies Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki, of Haven and Manticore respectively, have been moving against Mesa's backstage shenanigans for some time and have helped uncover enough of the conspiracy to unite their formerly antagonistic governments. Now in Cauldron of Ghosts Cachat, Zilwicki and their team infiltrate the Mesa homeworld to try to gain proof of the conspiracy and perhaps even bring Mesa a freedom its people have never known.
For this series, Weber teams with sci-fi author Eric Flint, who is a well-known name in military-based science fiction in his own right. It's hard for anyone other than the authors to say how much each one contributed, Flint has less success than other collaborators in reducing the amount of "meeting minutes" scenes to which his colleague is prone. The espionage plotline is handled deftly, but the pair telegraph the villains' atrocities with almost anesthetized clumsiness. The Mesans are exploding bombs in their own cities to create a "terrorist threat" they can use to justify harsh measures, and as soon as we meet some ordinary person going about their business in the middle of a chapter, we know what's coming. The replication of these scenes lengthens and deadens the story, and helps make Cauldron one of the weaker entries in its particular Honorverse series.
See original here.
But the two nations have found a common enemy after many years of fighting, and are now allied against the Mesan Alignment. This cloak-and-dagger corporation has as its goal the establishment of a genetic caste system throughout as much of the galaxy as possible -- with its own directors as tyrant oligarchs. Master spies Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki, of Haven and Manticore respectively, have been moving against Mesa's backstage shenanigans for some time and have helped uncover enough of the conspiracy to unite their formerly antagonistic governments. Now in Cauldron of Ghosts Cachat, Zilwicki and their team infiltrate the Mesa homeworld to try to gain proof of the conspiracy and perhaps even bring Mesa a freedom its people have never known.
For this series, Weber teams with sci-fi author Eric Flint, who is a well-known name in military-based science fiction in his own right. It's hard for anyone other than the authors to say how much each one contributed, Flint has less success than other collaborators in reducing the amount of "meeting minutes" scenes to which his colleague is prone. The espionage plotline is handled deftly, but the pair telegraph the villains' atrocities with almost anesthetized clumsiness. The Mesans are exploding bombs in their own cities to create a "terrorist threat" they can use to justify harsh measures, and as soon as we meet some ordinary person going about their business in the middle of a chapter, we know what's coming. The replication of these scenes lengthens and deadens the story, and helps make Cauldron one of the weaker entries in its particular Honorverse series.
See original here.
April 21, 2014
Slow to get get going. Most of the books by webber have a very short resolution. Basically his stories reach the climax and then end a few pages latter. This one ended at the climax (maybe a paragraph past) with no resolution.
There were several times I just started skimming whole pages when he was giving unnecessary details about terrorist attacks that did not involve any of the characters.
There was also a couple of story lines that are seemingly pointless and kind of abandoned. I feel like I wasted my time reading about them Torch marines assaulting the space station, mcbrydes escape from Mesa, the torch marine marrying the freed slave).
Also the beginning of this book was slow with the same information being repeated over and over again (I got it the first time) and with a such a annoying troupe. The troupe I am referring to is where all the "spooks" (that word is over used) know what each other is referring to but then another character has to act ignorant so that the other can explain it to the reader.
Another thing this book contained (which his others do as well) is that different characters will use the same cliched saying which is jarring enough that it rubs in your face that that a single person is writing all the dialogue instead of a cast of characters.
The other troupe that is really over used in this book is when a character makes reference real world historical event and then another character pleads ignorance and then character has to go explain old world pre-dispora Terran history. The whole point of make a accurate historical reference is so that the reader can relate, so don't bother explaining it. If you have to explain it then it was poor and you should have just made up a fictional one.
I really had to work hard to keep picking this up to finish it. I really enjoyed the main story line in the Honor Harrington story and the creation of the universe. I could not put the books down. After this one, I am not sure I am going to pick up anther one. I am starting to think Webber should have stuck to his original outline and killed off Honor in the defense of Manticore.
There were several times I just started skimming whole pages when he was giving unnecessary details about terrorist attacks that did not involve any of the characters.
There was also a couple of story lines that are seemingly pointless and kind of abandoned. I feel like I wasted my time reading about them Torch marines assaulting the space station, mcbrydes escape from Mesa, the torch marine marrying the freed slave).
Also the beginning of this book was slow with the same information being repeated over and over again (I got it the first time) and with a such a annoying troupe. The troupe I am referring to is where all the "spooks" (that word is over used) know what each other is referring to but then another character has to act ignorant so that the other can explain it to the reader.
Another thing this book contained (which his others do as well) is that different characters will use the same cliched saying which is jarring enough that it rubs in your face that that a single person is writing all the dialogue instead of a cast of characters.
The other troupe that is really over used in this book is when a character makes reference real world historical event and then another character pleads ignorance and then character has to go explain old world pre-dispora Terran history. The whole point of make a accurate historical reference is so that the reader can relate, so don't bother explaining it. If you have to explain it then it was poor and you should have just made up a fictional one.
I really had to work hard to keep picking this up to finish it. I really enjoyed the main story line in the Honor Harrington story and the creation of the universe. I could not put the books down. After this one, I am not sure I am going to pick up anther one. I am starting to think Webber should have stuck to his original outline and killed off Honor in the defense of Manticore.
September 2, 2014
So. Many. Characters.
Seriously, we do not need to have a full name given for Soldier Q. Public, who is just going to die on the next page (or is already dead). By the end, I completely lost track of who's who, except for a very select number of important characters, and couldn't be bothered to care about the names of everyone else.
As for the plot, it's entirely predictable except perhaps for degree of vileness that the M.A. is willing to employ, and that really shouldn't surprise anyone by now. Everything else follows naturally from there without any shocking twists or turns.
If you're reading mainline Honor and need to know what happened in this book, it could easily be summed up in 1-2 relatively short paragraphs, and you won't have missed anything, except an opportunity to waste a lot of your time.
Below also contains spoilers for Shadow of Freedom.
Seriously, we do not need to have a full name given for Soldier Q. Public, who is just going to die on the next page (or is already dead). By the end, I completely lost track of who's who, except for a very select number of important characters, and couldn't be bothered to care about the names of everyone else.
As for the plot, it's entirely predictable except perhaps for degree of vileness that the M.A. is willing to employ, and that really shouldn't surprise anyone by now. Everything else follows naturally from there without any shocking twists or turns.
If you're reading mainline Honor and need to know what happened in this book, it could easily be summed up in 1-2 relatively short paragraphs, and you won't have missed anything, except an opportunity to waste a lot of your time.
Below also contains spoilers for Shadow of Freedom.
May 15, 2014
David Weber and Eric Flint again show why they are one of the best sci-fi writing duos out there. Weber does an amazing job creating a galaxy of military science fiction, but his shortcoming was that he stuck way too closely to the analogy of the Napoleonic Wars. When his version of France (Haven) had a revolution, the leader was named Rob S. Pierre. I rest my case. Eric Flint came in and brought in some much needed broadening of characters. Honor Harrington, the main character of this long series, is Horatio Nelson. She has the same injuries as him. She has the same shortcomings with regards to affairs. But she has got to the point where she is like Superman. She wins every battle and is getting to the point where she is boring. The two main characters of this book, Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki, are a breath of fresh air. Each one is a fun character for different reasons and Eric Flint brings a much needed sense of humor to the series. This installment does a wonderful job of moving forward the plot of the entire Honorverse.
July 21, 2014
When Eric Flint and David Weber get together to write a tale, you can expect action, intrigue, plots galore and much more. The Cauldron of Ghosts provides that with plenty of military action, dastardly enemies, and a twist at the end that is not really explained in this book, but will probably pop-up in another book in the Honorverse universe. We go along with Anton Zilwicki, Thandi Palane, and Victor Cachat on their visit Mesa which ends with an uprising caused mainly by the Mesan Alignment's cover plan for Operation Houdini. If you have been reading this series, you will have no problem, otherwise, do start with On Basilisk Station and read up the series. Enjoy!
July 11, 2018
Lots of action, but the plot hasn't seemed to have advanced very far. The editing was very poor and the seams between chapters wasn't great - there were literally passages that were duplicated word for word.
I enjoy Weber's works, but his habit of stretching the plots on beyond the breaking point is becoming quite annoying. This interweaving of various series, while probably great for his sales, makes it harder to stay up to date and interested. I'll keep buying for now, but I wish he would tighten these books up.
I enjoy Weber's works, but his habit of stretching the plots on beyond the breaking point is becoming quite annoying. This interweaving of various series, while probably great for his sales, makes it harder to stay up to date and interested. I'll keep buying for now, but I wish he would tighten these books up.
February 11, 2018
Another great book by two great authors. I truly enjoyed the eARC version of this book. Baen just keeps publishing the greatest books! 2018 re-read. Simply superb!
April 26, 2014
This one only barely missed the five stars. Because as funny as Flint and Weber are when they push their common story forward at times it just was too much. I just can't stand it, when three or more different groups of people that had no contact start making the exact same jokes, just to make the readers giggle how often that thing re-appears. And i hate it when you write about the year 4000 (give or take some years) but every single pop culture thing, historical note, name for streets, places, planets, ships and even the freed slaves that are said to christen themselves after persons they deem important for their live and newly won freedom is the same as it would be in the year when the darned book was written. To be fair, there were some LIMITED attempts to redeem this special fault very late on in the book when old events from Honor Harrington's career were mentioned but they were mentioned in combination with the Alamo, Massada and Stalingrad, not as stand alone examples for desperate defenders...
So in regards to this frustrating moments I'll not grant the last star, but i still enjoyed the read for the most part.
TBH it's also been a bit disappointing that their whole plan, the only REASON they dared to go back to Mesa even if in disguises so good they could never be caught by accident, vanishes in seconds after they go out to achieve this goal (gather proof for the Mesan Alignment and its plans regarding Manticore, Haven and the Sollies...) and turn the whole thing to a resistance story. And then it already starts escalating due to the Alignment pulling the panic cord and getting out of Dodge as fast as possible.
Their brilliant plan to "hide" their drawing out of tens if not hundreds of thousands of high level scientists and bureaucrat "in the know" about the Alignment and its secrets? Detonate dozens of nuclear warheads just to kill enough Mesans to make their vanished co-conspirators literally evaporate amongst the masses of the dead innocent civilians. We are made to belief that no one amongst the thousands profiting from this scheme is even a bit remorseful that their beloveds they leave behind will suffer from their involvement in the plan or even be amongst the victims. What a nice group. To topp it off, they (the conspiracy leaders) think it's nice to shove the guilt for it all over on the Audubon Ballroom and Torch.
The authors stay silent about the normal "on the streets" civilians, but the ruffian mixture making up most of Mesas security and law enforcement (emphasis on the force not the law) services, including the homeguard/militia like Peaceforce buy it lock, stock and barrel... pleading with their superiors to be unleashed on those unwashed seccies that must be behind so incredibly cruel a wave of terror attacks. Read: wreak genocide on a second class citizenship that already has got the brown end of the shitstick when life on Mesa is regarded and now are fair game for the murderous bloodlust of the "police" raining death and destruction down on them.
Of course the seccy slums where we were informed up front lawless gangs rule grand, don't take this actions lying down and so two giant skyscraper living blocks, the highrises Neue Rostock (yeah, say hi to US german grammar butchering!) and Hancock turn into entrenched defensive positions manned with thousands of hard boiled criminals armed to the teeth with illegally obtained weapons from the LE's own arsenals and led by the task team around Victor Cachat, Thandy Palane and Yana... who contacted the crimelord Jurgen Dusek as early as they saw through the guiltgame behind the attack series. Zilwicky drew the short straw and is back on the way to fetch Manticoran help for the .. .well freedom fighters is probably accurate enough in this fubar'ed situation.
And so a combination of careful planning, irritated defenders against totally unhinged attackers and the sheer mass or rather volume of a tower with a 900 m base and about a kilometer height leads to weeks of slow and casualty heavy trench fighting inside the skyscrapers with one especially effective counter attack by the rebels leading to Hancock Tower being reduced to an empty, burned out shell via a slightly overdone Rods from God attack from the system defense forces and up to half the attackers dead or out of the fight due to their injuries...
Meanwhile the names of the defenders and their Resistance at Neue Rostock races around the planet through all major Seccy settlements with lots of other appartment towers preparing for their own fights, when the Law Enforcement Reserves are freed from the Rostock assault and start going for them.
Still, the last defenders around Cachats group run slowly out of ammo, places to hide and personnel so the defeat seems to be imminent and after having killed maybe 10,000 to 12,000 of the attack force they can't count on any mercy (Not that the safety organs renomee made it likely to receive mercy before the campaign to root out "seccy terrorists" started...)
I've already mentioned the fun factor in it, but of course the whole bloody mess of "Operation Rat Catcher" doesn't leave much to laugh over, throughout those parts righteous anger and the thrill of a really well told military fighting environment replaces the chuckling, still it's gripping and entertaining, even though your gall will boil over wide stretches, more so when the civilian politic leaders of the Mesa government come into the picture deciding what their policeforces will exact next against the oh-so-deserving population of gerbils, schoolkids and single moms (the strike against Hancock alone killed at least 25.000 civilian "collateral damage" victims... about as much as the alignment's terror campaign [to find out more about we still haven#t come closer than at the outset of the book) has killed amongst the "proper citizens".
But the worst part of it is the callousness of the Alignment against its own minions... three "unreliable ones" from the security forces leadership before the revenge campaign are used to set up one of the most heinous attacks (against a sports game with police families and school children visiting) just because they aren#t trustworthy enough anymore... others are shown to be killed by their minders from the local Gestapo equivalent who then go on to blow up a whole ship with 500 slaves "cargo" just to hide their tracks and let the bodies vanish... so around 30,000 to 50,000 citizens, 30,000 to 35,000 seccies and maybe 12,000 security forces members, let's call it a hundred thousand casualties are completely in vain because they do not even care if the bastards "houdini" is meant to let vanish from the face of the earth, will survive being extracted.
Bringing it down to the essentials we've got this egomanical family of clones (Detweilers) that think of the whole universe as their playground and do not really care about anybody else,r egardless if high quality genetically optimated human, genetic slave of inferior quality or naturally born person, goading up whole wars between star nations that last decased, plan the downfall of the largest political body ever known in history (the Solarian League) and to top it off think of themselves as able and worthy enough to take over the shards of this six hundred year long program of calculated crime and genocide... what giant pricks those guys are and they find thousands of willing minions that are absolutely fine with this plan and contributing to it and share the weird sight of the world those creeps have found for themselves? That's even more unbelievable than the whole Nazi shebang and the countless millions who followed THAT dog and pony show willingly...
If this is what awaits us for the next ten or twelve volumes of the series, I'll gladly say that i was happier before the war against Haven ended up as a sidestory and subplan 95 of the 100 things to do to rule the universe of Mesan grace. With the Havenites and Masadans we had sick weirdos enough to fill a million asylums, but at least they had somewhat limited goals. (and yes, that is meant to say that i LOVE the books as far as they stand alone, but my affection for the storyline per se is slowly dying from hypothermia...)
So in regards to this frustrating moments I'll not grant the last star, but i still enjoyed the read for the most part.
TBH it's also been a bit disappointing that their whole plan, the only REASON they dared to go back to Mesa even if in disguises so good they could never be caught by accident, vanishes in seconds after they go out to achieve this goal (gather proof for the Mesan Alignment and its plans regarding Manticore, Haven and the Sollies...) and turn the whole thing to a resistance story. And then it already starts escalating due to the Alignment pulling the panic cord and getting out of Dodge as fast as possible.
Their brilliant plan to "hide" their drawing out of tens if not hundreds of thousands of high level scientists and bureaucrat "in the know" about the Alignment and its secrets? Detonate dozens of nuclear warheads just to kill enough Mesans to make their vanished co-conspirators literally evaporate amongst the masses of the dead innocent civilians. We are made to belief that no one amongst the thousands profiting from this scheme is even a bit remorseful that their beloveds they leave behind will suffer from their involvement in the plan or even be amongst the victims. What a nice group. To topp it off, they (the conspiracy leaders) think it's nice to shove the guilt for it all over on the Audubon Ballroom and Torch.
The authors stay silent about the normal "on the streets" civilians, but the ruffian mixture making up most of Mesas security and law enforcement (emphasis on the force not the law) services, including the homeguard/militia like Peaceforce buy it lock, stock and barrel... pleading with their superiors to be unleashed on those unwashed seccies that must be behind so incredibly cruel a wave of terror attacks. Read: wreak genocide on a second class citizenship that already has got the brown end of the shitstick when life on Mesa is regarded and now are fair game for the murderous bloodlust of the "police" raining death and destruction down on them.
Of course the seccy slums where we were informed up front lawless gangs rule grand, don't take this actions lying down and so two giant skyscraper living blocks, the highrises Neue Rostock (yeah, say hi to US german grammar butchering!) and Hancock turn into entrenched defensive positions manned with thousands of hard boiled criminals armed to the teeth with illegally obtained weapons from the LE's own arsenals and led by the task team around Victor Cachat, Thandy Palane and Yana... who contacted the crimelord Jurgen Dusek as early as they saw through the guiltgame behind the attack series. Zilwicky drew the short straw and is back on the way to fetch Manticoran help for the .. .well freedom fighters is probably accurate enough in this fubar'ed situation.
And so a combination of careful planning, irritated defenders against totally unhinged attackers and the sheer mass or rather volume of a tower with a 900 m base and about a kilometer height leads to weeks of slow and casualty heavy trench fighting inside the skyscrapers with one especially effective counter attack by the rebels leading to Hancock Tower being reduced to an empty, burned out shell via a slightly overdone Rods from God attack from the system defense forces and up to half the attackers dead or out of the fight due to their injuries...
Meanwhile the names of the defenders and their Resistance at Neue Rostock races around the planet through all major Seccy settlements with lots of other appartment towers preparing for their own fights, when the Law Enforcement Reserves are freed from the Rostock assault and start going for them.
Still, the last defenders around Cachats group run slowly out of ammo, places to hide and personnel so the defeat seems to be imminent and after having killed maybe 10,000 to 12,000 of the attack force they can't count on any mercy (Not that the safety organs renomee made it likely to receive mercy before the campaign to root out "seccy terrorists" started...)
I've already mentioned the fun factor in it, but of course the whole bloody mess of "Operation Rat Catcher" doesn't leave much to laugh over, throughout those parts righteous anger and the thrill of a really well told military fighting environment replaces the chuckling, still it's gripping and entertaining, even though your gall will boil over wide stretches, more so when the civilian politic leaders of the Mesa government come into the picture deciding what their policeforces will exact next against the oh-so-deserving population of gerbils, schoolkids and single moms (the strike against Hancock alone killed at least 25.000 civilian "collateral damage" victims... about as much as the alignment's terror campaign [to find out more about we still haven#t come closer than at the outset of the book) has killed amongst the "proper citizens".
But the worst part of it is the callousness of the Alignment against its own minions... three "unreliable ones" from the security forces leadership before the revenge campaign are used to set up one of the most heinous attacks (against a sports game with police families and school children visiting) just because they aren#t trustworthy enough anymore... others are shown to be killed by their minders from the local Gestapo equivalent who then go on to blow up a whole ship with 500 slaves "cargo" just to hide their tracks and let the bodies vanish... so around 30,000 to 50,000 citizens, 30,000 to 35,000 seccies and maybe 12,000 security forces members, let's call it a hundred thousand casualties are completely in vain because they do not even care if the bastards "houdini" is meant to let vanish from the face of the earth, will survive being extracted.
Bringing it down to the essentials we've got this egomanical family of clones (Detweilers) that think of the whole universe as their playground and do not really care about anybody else,r egardless if high quality genetically optimated human, genetic slave of inferior quality or naturally born person, goading up whole wars between star nations that last decased, plan the downfall of the largest political body ever known in history (the Solarian League) and to top it off think of themselves as able and worthy enough to take over the shards of this six hundred year long program of calculated crime and genocide... what giant pricks those guys are and they find thousands of willing minions that are absolutely fine with this plan and contributing to it and share the weird sight of the world those creeps have found for themselves? That's even more unbelievable than the whole Nazi shebang and the countless millions who followed THAT dog and pony show willingly...
If this is what awaits us for the next ten or twelve volumes of the series, I'll gladly say that i was happier before the war against Haven ended up as a sidestory and subplan 95 of the 100 things to do to rule the universe of Mesan grace. With the Havenites and Masadans we had sick weirdos enough to fill a million asylums, but at least they had somewhat limited goals. (and yes, that is meant to say that i LOVE the books as far as they stand alone, but my affection for the storyline per se is slowly dying from hypothermia...)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
November 10, 2020The multi-POV just got even worse...or better, if you like that sort of thing. It just came to me that this book actually serves in a triad of books with A Rising Thunder and Shadow of Freedom as a multi-novel semi-simultaneously multi-POV telling of the tale Weber started, and which madness other worthies like Flint have bought into. Cachat and Zilwicki finally deliver their news back to the PRH and Manticore, and almost immediately take off on another hare-brained adventure to gather more intelligence on Mesa, managing to sucker a few other fools into their scheme, as well, including Thandi Palani, head of Torch's military.
Queen Berry and her friends decide to form the Royal Torch Navy, mostly consisting of commando-like teams whose first assignments are to be attacking the Mesan slave trade wherever they find it, and they are improbably allied with a family of vagabond space traders we encountered in SoF. Eloise Pritchard and Queen Elizabeth of Manticore meet and decide to bury the hatchet and to ally against the Mesan Alignment. The Sollies still haven't a clue and are basically waiting to get their butts handed to them when the inevitable war comes.
After bouncing around like crazy, though, the story finally settles in on the Mesan thread, and we get to enjoy watching Victor and Anton stirring things up in the seccie underworld there. At first it appears that Victor is going to become a crime boss, but he seizes the opportunity to ally with a powerful one, instead, to prepare the underclass for the battle which is to come.
Operation Houdini is in full swing, and the Alignment kills multiple birds with many stones when they stage a series of "Audubon Ballroom" attacks on civilian targets, both to stir up a massive distraction and retaliation against the seccies who are implicated in aiding the terrorists, and to cover up the disappearance of the members of the Alignment who have been hiding in plain sight in Mesan society. They're headed for a bolthole somewhere, and it should be entertaining to see the deadly duo of Cachat and Zilwicki ferret them out in a later book.
I really need to find a good plot diagram of this whole saga somewhere. It remains confusing to me, even as I enjoy the quality of the storytelling and plot twists.
Queen Berry and her friends decide to form the Royal Torch Navy, mostly consisting of commando-like teams whose first assignments are to be attacking the Mesan slave trade wherever they find it, and they are improbably allied with a family of vagabond space traders we encountered in SoF. Eloise Pritchard and Queen Elizabeth of Manticore meet and decide to bury the hatchet and to ally against the Mesan Alignment. The Sollies still haven't a clue and are basically waiting to get their butts handed to them when the inevitable war comes.
After bouncing around like crazy, though, the story finally settles in on the Mesan thread, and we get to enjoy watching Victor and Anton stirring things up in the seccie underworld there. At first it appears that Victor is going to become a crime boss, but he seizes the opportunity to ally with a powerful one, instead, to prepare the underclass for the battle which is to come.
Operation Houdini is in full swing, and the Alignment kills multiple birds with many stones when they stage a series of "Audubon Ballroom" attacks on civilian targets, both to stir up a massive distraction and retaliation against the seccies who are implicated in aiding the terrorists, and to cover up the disappearance of the members of the Alignment who have been hiding in plain sight in Mesan society. They're headed for a bolthole somewhere, and it should be entertaining to see the deadly duo of Cachat and Zilwicki ferret them out in a later book.
I really need to find a good plot diagram of this whole saga somewhere. It remains confusing to me, even as I enjoy the quality of the storytelling and plot twists.
October 17, 2019
Third in the Wages of Sin subseries within the Honorverse overall series and revolving around Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki against the Mesan Alignment. It’s inciting revolution time! I reckon this one merits a "7".
My Take
Omigod. I don't know if it's just been too long since I've read an Honorverse story or if Weber and Flint are having too much fun with this story. I chuckled and laughed through at least the first half before it got serious. And, yeah, there are parts where I cried. There were also sections where I cheered and hoorayed! And gnashed my teeth and…
Victor is having too much fun with his new persona, and you'll enjoy reading his assessments of too-gorgeous and too-ugly being quite useful for the same reason. Listening as he plays and with his accent toy and his brutal, to-the-point analyses.
The first part reminds us of Victor and Anton's actions when they first drop in on Mesa with some analysis of their characters and abilities and includes some buildup around the hatred Manticore and Haven have for Manpower and company. It then segues into Victor and Anton having way too much fun stirring up the seccies on Mesa. Yep, it's a revolution in the making with fewer funny bits, more drama, and more crying — on my part at least.
It's strange because there is so much that happens in Cauldron of Ghosts, and yet, in many respects, this is a bridge story. Anton and Victor certainly kick things up a notch, but it's more of a kicking over the anthill kind of thing. A really BIG anthill.
Excellent point about who donates what: the poor give to anyone poorer than they are while the rich "give" to institutions that put their name on the buildings.
Weber/Flint do spend a lot of pages explaining various aspects of the Honorverse. How prolong affects attitudes about families and marriage. It does sound like an ideal society for families, with all the support there is in raising kids. There are some good arguments for it. Why Torch hasn't got much of a navy along with discussions of the various ships and their uses. The seccy society in Mesa. Why including Thandi on this mission is a good idea as well as why it won't impact the Torch army. How the educational system works on Beowulf. How Erewhon really works, which actually sounds pretty good. A bit more on how and why Old Earth died. Greater depth on why the medical establishment on Beowulf split and one chunk became the Mesan Alignment. How the seccy buildings are constructed, life in the neighborhoods, and their own social interactions. Then there is Sharon's belief about the Manticoran coffee…hmmm…
Now that Manticore and Haven know about the Mesan Alignment, they're discussing how they set things up to escape detection all these centuries. And makes me despise them even more. Lots of philosophizing about society.
Vickers is so stupid, he thinks Al Capone is an ancient Roman gangster. Nor is he the only idiot running around loose. I don't think much of a society that thinks indiscriminate violence with collateral damage amongst its population is a "job well done".
Ooh, I like how Honor describes Victor, as being the "closest thing a human can come to a treecat".
Omigod…crack me up over Yana's "disguise"! Poor baby.
Ah, jesus, the lengths the Mesan Alignment will go to further their agenda. You'll cry. You won't be able to help it. You'll be stunned, mouth-open, gobsmacked, stunned. And Weber/Flint just stretch that trauma out!
Oh, you will crack up! A Talking Head who actually makes sense! One of 'em is foaming off at the mouth about what a sociopath Victor was during the gunfight — the one that saved Anton's kids?? The other is asking what Victor should have done? Give them a lecture? Crack me up…!
Interesting developments in this for some Mesan employees as they begin to see those they looked down upon, those they treated as scum, as being human beings worthy of respect. All these saps who begin to understand the truth, and it's too late.
Duhh, did the Mesa security people really think the seccies were going to roll over when they saw what they'd be facing? From the start?
The newscasters keep talking about "cowardly and vile attacks", and naturally I'm thinking he's referring to the government forces. Since that's the truth. Silly me.
There's a legend building on Mesa, a brave story of Thandi Palane, Jurgen Dursek, and Bachue the Nose.
And, dammit, Weber/Flint have ended this all wrong!!! I wanna know what happened after the ships of the wall descended. No, no, no, noooooo. What happened…?! Seriously, as writers, they did brilliantly. As a reader, well, hmph…
The Story
Trajan is thrilled to be getting rid of that wild card, Cachat! As far as Haven is concerned, any possible cover Victor had was blown between his antics in helping Torch becoming independent and his actions with Anton on Mesa.
Those antics include Anton, Yara, and Herlander, and they’re all being sent to Manticore to the queen.
It’ll be a new mission and they’re sending Victor, Anton, Thandi, Yana, Steph, and Andrew in their new DNA sheaths into certain death.
The Characters
Since the list was almost longer than the book and GR has a limit on how many characters are allowed in a post, you'll have to visit my blog for the character roll.
The Cover
The cover is a metallic gold background of the silhouetted city of Mendel on Mesa with Victor front and slightly off-center (hmmm, how appropriate!) wearing a long duster and holstering his weapon (I think). The squat, dwarfish, leather-jacketed Anton is behind him, ready to rumble while the rest of the team is scattered behind them. A narrow black band across the top features the authors’ names in blue while the title is below it in red.
The title is what the Mesan Alignment intends to do, create a Cauldron of Ghosts.
My Take
Omigod. I don't know if it's just been too long since I've read an Honorverse story or if Weber and Flint are having too much fun with this story. I chuckled and laughed through at least the first half before it got serious. And, yeah, there are parts where I cried. There were also sections where I cheered and hoorayed! And gnashed my teeth and…
Victor is having too much fun with his new persona, and you'll enjoy reading his assessments of too-gorgeous and too-ugly being quite useful for the same reason. Listening as he plays and with his accent toy and his brutal, to-the-point analyses.
The first part reminds us of Victor and Anton's actions when they first drop in on Mesa with some analysis of their characters and abilities and includes some buildup around the hatred Manticore and Haven have for Manpower and company. It then segues into Victor and Anton having way too much fun stirring up the seccies on Mesa. Yep, it's a revolution in the making with fewer funny bits, more drama, and more crying — on my part at least.
"Sadly, military propriety took another hit.
'You heard the Old Lady,' Sydorenko's voice came over every listening com. 'Let us now do unto others as they have wet dreams of doing unto us.'"
It's strange because there is so much that happens in Cauldron of Ghosts, and yet, in many respects, this is a bridge story. Anton and Victor certainly kick things up a notch, but it's more of a kicking over the anthill kind of thing. A really BIG anthill.
Excellent point about who donates what: the poor give to anyone poorer than they are while the rich "give" to institutions that put their name on the buildings.
Maytag, Whirpool, Suds Emporium…
Weber/Flint do spend a lot of pages explaining various aspects of the Honorverse. How prolong affects attitudes about families and marriage. It does sound like an ideal society for families, with all the support there is in raising kids. There are some good arguments for it. Why Torch hasn't got much of a navy along with discussions of the various ships and their uses. The seccy society in Mesa. Why including Thandi on this mission is a good idea as well as why it won't impact the Torch army. How the educational system works on Beowulf. How Erewhon really works, which actually sounds pretty good. A bit more on how and why Old Earth died. Greater depth on why the medical establishment on Beowulf split and one chunk became the Mesan Alignment. How the seccy buildings are constructed, life in the neighborhoods, and their own social interactions. Then there is Sharon's belief about the Manticoran coffee…hmmm…
Now that Manticore and Haven know about the Mesan Alignment, they're discussing how they set things up to escape detection all these centuries. And makes me despise them even more. Lots of philosophizing about society.
Vickers is so stupid, he thinks Al Capone is an ancient Roman gangster. Nor is he the only idiot running around loose. I don't think much of a society that thinks indiscriminate violence with collateral damage amongst its population is a "job well done".
Ooh, I like how Honor describes Victor, as being the "closest thing a human can come to a treecat".
Omigod…crack me up over Yana's "disguise"! Poor baby.
"'I plan to hold that grudge the rest of my life.' … 'Mind you, it's likely to be a short life,' she said. 'I'm bound to topple over and kill myself the moment I get distracted.'
'It's a status symbol in a number of Verge cultures,' Kham elaborated. 'And the wealthier you are, the — ah — more voluptuous you are.'
Steph and Andrew studied Yana a little longer.
'So what do we call you now?' Andrew asked. 'Midas?'"
Ah, jesus, the lengths the Mesan Alignment will go to further their agenda. You'll cry. You won't be able to help it. You'll be stunned, mouth-open, gobsmacked, stunned. And Weber/Flint just stretch that trauma out!
Oh, you will crack up! A Talking Head who actually makes sense! One of 'em is foaming off at the mouth about what a sociopath Victor was during the gunfight — the one that saved Anton's kids?? The other is asking what Victor should have done? Give them a lecture? Crack me up…!
Interesting developments in this for some Mesan employees as they begin to see those they looked down upon, those they treated as scum, as being human beings worthy of respect. All these saps who begin to understand the truth, and it's too late.
Duhh, did the Mesa security people really think the seccies were going to roll over when they saw what they'd be facing? From the start?
The newscasters keep talking about "cowardly and vile attacks", and naturally I'm thinking he's referring to the government forces. Since that's the truth. Silly me.
There's a legend building on Mesa, a brave story of Thandi Palane, Jurgen Dursek, and Bachue the Nose.
And, dammit, Weber/Flint have ended this all wrong!!! I wanna know what happened after the ships of the wall descended. No, no, no, noooooo. What happened…?! Seriously, as writers, they did brilliantly. As a reader, well, hmph…
The Story
Trajan is thrilled to be getting rid of that wild card, Cachat! As far as Haven is concerned, any possible cover Victor had was blown between his antics in helping Torch becoming independent and his actions with Anton on Mesa.
Those antics include Anton, Yara, and Herlander, and they’re all being sent to Manticore to the queen.
It’ll be a new mission and they’re sending Victor, Anton, Thandi, Yana, Steph, and Andrew in their new DNA sheaths into certain death.
The Characters
Since the list was almost longer than the book and GR has a limit on how many characters are allowed in a post, you'll have to visit my blog for the character roll.
The Cover
The cover is a metallic gold background of the silhouetted city of Mendel on Mesa with Victor front and slightly off-center (hmmm, how appropriate!) wearing a long duster and holstering his weapon (I think). The squat, dwarfish, leather-jacketed Anton is behind him, ready to rumble while the rest of the team is scattered behind them. A narrow black band across the top features the authors’ names in blue while the title is below it in red.
The title is what the Mesan Alignment intends to do, create a Cauldron of Ghosts.
June 18, 2018
In Torch of Freedom, Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki made a daring covert mission to Mesa, the heart of the genetic slavery system. The disruptions they caused have led the secret core of the Mesan Alignment to activate Operation Houdini, a long-planned flight of their key personnel to a secret bolthole, somewhere. And in the process of covering their departure, creating mayhem that they can blame upon their opponents, particularly the Audobon Ballroom.
But Victor and Anton are back for a second round, this time under much deeper cover that involves nanotech disguises. They are here this time to make connections with the disaffected elements of the local population and try to organize an uprising of some sort.
There are some really grim scenes that plumb the reasons why good people would support a bad regime and do terrible things on its behalf. Unfortunately, it's becoming uncomfortably more applicable with every passing day.
The ending is actually quite heartening, in the best David Weber tradition of honoring heroes. However, it leaves me wondering whether this is the end of this story arc, or if it's in fact just the beginning. Somewhere out there is the bolthole of the fled leaders of the Mesan Alignment, and considering how much bitterness they carried with them from Beowulf and nursed for generations, it's hard to believe that they're just going to go their own way and let bygones be bygones.
But Victor and Anton are back for a second round, this time under much deeper cover that involves nanotech disguises. They are here this time to make connections with the disaffected elements of the local population and try to organize an uprising of some sort.
There are some really grim scenes that plumb the reasons why good people would support a bad regime and do terrible things on its behalf. Unfortunately, it's becoming uncomfortably more applicable with every passing day.
The ending is actually quite heartening, in the best David Weber tradition of honoring heroes. However, it leaves me wondering whether this is the end of this story arc, or if it's in fact just the beginning. Somewhere out there is the bolthole of the fled leaders of the Mesan Alignment, and considering how much bitterness they carried with them from Beowulf and nursed for generations, it's hard to believe that they're just going to go their own way and let bygones be bygones.
July 26, 2018
I like all Honorverse books, but this one maybe tops all of them that are not dealing with Honor herself or the RMN. Involves Manticore, Haven and Torch and takes place mostly on site on Mesa. Anton Zilwicki (G) & Victor Cachat (H) along with Thandi Palane (T), Steph Turner (M), Andrew Arlett (PS) & Yana (T) arrive with body and/or facial disguises created on Beowulf and assist a local seccy ganglord prepare to face off with Mesan authorities and their armed methods for seccy & slave control. All this while major atrocities claimed to be the work of the Audubon Ballroom are taking place to disguise the Mesan Alignment's Houdini, a secret escape plan for the very elite Mesans under Albrecht Detweiler.
April 12, 2021
Cauldron of Ghosts is the third book in the Wages of Sin series and, I suspect, the end of the series. The side path the series has taken is most likely wound back into the main Honor Harrington series. My favorite spies, Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat, are back on Mesa, doing what they do best: ferreting out information on the Mesan Alignment. I love seeing all the angles in this book and being in the know while the spies try to figure it out. The downside is that unless you've read the other books in the series, you are being dumped in the deep end of the pool without a life jacket. Don't jump in the deep end; start at the beginning and read through. You will be rewarded with a well-developed universe that grows more complex.
Highly recommended for fans of the series.
Highly recommended for fans of the series.
December 27, 2021
Well done
I have to say that liked the way David Weber and Eric Flint tied the various other series together here. They also brought, for me, a more insightful look at Mesa and its workings. I am very curious as to where the series is going and if there will be a final ending.
If I have any complaints, it is that Weber can get wordy. But that has always been part of his writing style, and it does fill in the background of the world he has created. So my complaint is a minor one.
I have to say that liked the way David Weber and Eric Flint tied the various other series together here. They also brought, for me, a more insightful look at Mesa and its workings. I am very curious as to where the series is going and if there will be a final ending.
If I have any complaints, it is that Weber can get wordy. But that has always been part of his writing style, and it does fill in the background of the world he has created. So my complaint is a minor one.
July 14, 2023
Overall Nicely done
There are a few, but not many errors in a Weber book, which makes things go so much better. While good overall, I have noticed in this book and some others of his later books an increase in a tendency to be pedantic... First blank, and then so, etc., For several pages, then "but none of that made any difference."! Well, if it doesn't make a difference why are we talking about it!?
There are a few, but not many errors in a Weber book, which makes things go so much better. While good overall, I have noticed in this book and some others of his later books an increase in a tendency to be pedantic... First blank, and then so, etc., For several pages, then "but none of that made any difference."! Well, if it doesn't make a difference why are we talking about it!?
January 3, 2021
This was a good read, great characters, lots of action. But I wonder why did the main charcters go back to Mesa? Other than that, it was pretty good. It was a nice view of Mesa and their leaders. Anton and Victor get lots of oppertunities to show their talents. I kind of hope their is a fourth novel. But this part of the Honorverse timeline seams to be wrapped up.
May 24, 2023
DNF Struggled through 170 pages of this glop before giving up. Seems to be about a plethora of similar typed characters sitting around in a variety of settings babbling about how wonderful they all are and how they are going to save the galaxy for the more deserving righteous (themselves). But they don't actually do anything, with nary a plot in sight worth grasping a hold of. Blech!!
August 15, 2017
As ever a very well written book, great characters, and moves the Honoverse story lines on. It did take me a little while to get into this one, but it certainly picked up speed as it went along. Very good.
December 29, 2017
Not the best in the honorverse books, but better than the main story books at the same chronological period of story because it's not the same story reprinted (new/different stuff happens) makes me look forward to the next real honor Harrington book, where the parallel time period Harrington books didn't really. Worth a read if you read the other 2 torch books.
March 31, 2021
Long, but satisfying drama
Good continuing storyline of the Torch main characters
The filling out and use of supporting characters made this richer and deeper my only criticism is the explicit gory deaths.
Good continuing storyline of the Torch main characters
The filling out and use of supporting characters made this richer and deeper my only criticism is the explicit gory deaths.
January 29, 2022
Hard to put down!
Since I started reading the Honorverse series, I have waited patiently for the next volume to arrive. This is the fifth reading of this chapter. Waiting for the end of The Alignment.
Since I started reading the Honorverse series, I have waited patiently for the next volume to arrive. This is the fifth reading of this chapter. Waiting for the end of The Alignment.
August 12, 2018
A lot of overlapping information with other books in the universe. Can't wait till the next book is out
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